Water Resources Collections and Archives

The Coliseum Complex and its associated parking lot create almost four million square feet of continuous impermeable surface. This vast expanse of pavement extends all the way to the edge of two adjacent drainage channels, Damon Slough and Arroyo Viejo Creek. Existing site conditions indicate that the stormwater that falls on this surface runs untreated directly into these adjacent waterbodies. This paper analyzes the site’s conditions based on available data and proposes strategic actions and a concept plan for stormwater management. The proposals incorporate both hydrologic and cultural constraints of the site, including the presence of underlying soil contaminants, a planned bicycle and pedestrian path to the north of the site, and the use of the parking lot as a major social gathering spot for cultural groups associated with the sports arena. In addition this paper discusses the regulatory context for this stormwater retrofit as well as mechanisms which could be used to negotiate the redesign of both the Coliseum and similar sites throughout the urban landscape.